Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista took a sixth place in today’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, resulting the best placed Honda under the checkered flag in a race that marked his 200th presence in the World Championship. His teammate, Scott Redding, was immediately behind him on the finish line in seventh place, equaling his best result of the season, obtained last March in the season opener in Qatar.

Starting from the sixth row Bautista was immediately in twelfth position at the start, then was able to end a difficult race without making mistakes, despite having suffered the same rear grip issues to he had throughout the whole weekend. In the final stages, the Spaniard engaged a battle with Hector Barbera and with his teammate, beaten by compatriot for just 65 thousandths of a second.

Thanks to the seventh place, Redding returned to be the top Open Class Honda RCV1000R: despite a mistake in the early laps of the race, which he made him slip back in 20th position, the British rookie came back keeping a good pace, battling in the end for a top five finish with teammate Bautista and Hector Barbera.


ALVARO BAUTISTA (6th)

“Today we got the best possible result, the maximum we could expect. During the race I had the same bad feelings I had throughout the whole weekend; in addition, in the last few laps the rear tyre dropped down a lot, beginning to spin also in the straight. For this reason I couldn’t push hard in the final stages to try to open a gap from the riders with whom I was battling. Anyway, today we faced a difficult race, with many crashes, and it was definitely not easy to finish the race: we did it, so we must be happy for that. However, it’s clear that I’m not happy, because I still don’t find myself comfortable with the bke and I hope that in Malaysia the situation can improve, since I have a good memory of the test we have carried out there last February. Finally, I wish to thank the team, because they are all giving more than one hundred percent in these difficult times”.

SCOTT REDDING (7th)

“I was in fifth going into the last corner, but Barbera and Alvaro passed me to the finish line thanks to their more powerful bikes, so I’m a little bit gutted for that because it would have been nice to make a top five finish today, even though I know that many riders crashed. I made a mistake in the early stages of the race: I almost hit the back of Hernandez and I went straight into Turn 4, losing 4 seconds, so I had to recover and catch up the other Open Honda bikes. Then I started to find my rhythm and it was good battling with Hayden and Alvaro. I also managed to open a little gap, but in the end the more powerful Honda and Ducati bikes started to catch me, therefore we fought all the way until the last corner. It was a really nice race, I enjoyed it a lot!”.

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